Written May 2025
I was born in March of 1970, with Truncus Arteriosus, a rare congenital heart defect where two major arteries leaving the heart, the aorta and pulmonary artery, fail to separate during fetal development, resulting in a single common vessel. This condition causes oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood to mix, leading to low oxygen levels in the body. The doctors didn’t think I would make it through the night. I was given my last rights, and received the sacrament of confirmation. I am now 55 years old, I have had 2 open heart surgeries, as well as many minor surgeries to maintain the heart until I was strong enough to under go the first major open heart surgery in March of 1976 (on my birthday). The doctors placed a pig valve into a conduit and created a pulmonary artery, at that time it was a pioneer surgery. To my knowledge the other children having the same types of surgeries have passed on. My second open heart surgery was in February of 2009, doctors replace the pig valve with a cow valve. I had the pig valve for 33 years, typically they last 5 years. In 2010 I had a ICD (Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator) and pacemaker combo added, which addresses both slow heart rhythms and potentially life-threatening fast or irregular rhythms.